Construction of vessels



Oct 22, 1940. w, STEWART 2,218,689

I v CONSTRUCTION OF VESSELS Filed July 7, 1958 s Sheets-Shed 1 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Invenfor Attorney Oct. 22, 19 0- J. w. STEWART- CONSTRUCTION OF VESSELS Filed July 7, 1958 w w 8' W J Oct. 22, 1940. J. w. STEWART CONSTRUCTION OF VESSELS FiledJuly 7, 1938 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 J W/SieWaz'i Invezz zor Aiforney 5 Sheets-Shet 4 Inventor I .Aiiorzuy J emzrt Oct. 22, 1940. J. w. STEWART CONSTRUCTION OF VESSELS Filed July '7, 1938 1940- J. w'. STEWART CONSTRUCTION VESSELS Filed July 7, 1955 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 villi/III I? IIIIIIIIIIIIII J W Stewart Inven tar Patented Oct. 22, 1940 I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE consmuc r rziz gr VESSELS v John William Stewart, Few York, N. Y. Application July 7, 1938, Serial No. 217,991 13 Claims. (Cl- 114-80) This invention relates to the construction of vessels and more particularly to the construction of cargo carrying vessels, the invention having for its object to provide a construction which is 5 less costly, more eflicient, and stronger than those heretofore proposed.

With these andother objects in view the invention resides in the novel details of construction and combinations of parts as will be disclosed 10 more fully hereinafter and particularly pointed out in the claims.

. Referring to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification and in which like i numerals designate like parts in all the views,

15 Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic representation of the plan of a vessel embodying the principles of this invention;

Figs. 2 to 5 are diagrammatic representations of the plans of vessels embodying modifications 20 of the construction illustrated in Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is a transverse sectional view of one-half of a vessel in which is incorporated one of the principles of this invention, said view taken as one the line 66 of Fig. 1 and looking in the di- 25 rection of the anows;

Fig. 7 is a sectional view of a portion of the construction shown in Figs. 6 and 8, said view taken as on the line |-'I thereof and looking in the direction of the arrows;

30 Fig. 8 is a transverse sectional view of onehalf of a vessel in which is incorporated a modification of the construction shown in Fig. 6;

Fig. 9 is a sectional view of a portion of the construction shown in Fig. 8, said view taken 35 as on the line 99 thereof and looking in the.

direction of the arrows;

Fig. 10 is a horizontal sectional view taken in the way of a midship transverse bulkhead,-

said view being taken as on the line Ill-l of 40 Fig. 8 and looking in the direction ofthe arrows;

' 50 This invention primarily has to do with the subdivision'of the hold of a vessel by transverse and longitudinal bulkheads into the usual tanks,

in the case of a liquid cargo carrying vessel, or

into storage spaces when cargo other than liquid 55 is to be carried, the novelty of the invention not only residing in the construction of the individual bulkheads, but in the construction employed in the region of the intersection of a transverse bulkhead with a longitudinal bulkhead and/or with the ships plating, and the reinforcement of a considerable span length of a bulkhead. Therefore this inventionis applicable to vessels of various beams as well as lengths, and depths below decks. Another feature of the invention resides in the connections between a stiffened transverse bulkhead and the longitudinal. framing members of the vessel, as well as the connection with stifieners located at spaced intervals for reinforcing purposes. Further, the entire ship may be welded, or partly welded and partly secured as by well known practices such as riveting.

In Figs. 1 to 5 the longitudinal bulkheadshave been generally identified by the numeral 2, the transverse bulkheads by the numeral 3, the longitudinal girders by the numeral 4, and the usual transverses by the numeral 5, the skin of the vessel being indicated at 6. The transverses may be spaced equally or unequally to suit the desired design of the framing in accordance with the knownart. According to Figs. 1, 2 and 3 there is provided a plurality of longitudinal bulkheads disposed on opposite sides of the center line of the vessel whereas in Figs. 4 and 5 there is a longitudinal bulkhead disposed in the plane of the center line of the vessel. The bulkheads may be planar and/or corrugated.

Where the longitudinal and transverse bulkheads intersect there is provided a vertical pillar generally identified by the numeral 1 and, as shown in Figs. 1 to 5, comprising an I-beam the flanges of which receive the ends of the longitudinal bulkheads; and the webs of which receive the ends of the transverse bulkheads. In other words a longitudinal bulkhead is fitted between and secured to the facing flanges of two adja-.

cent pillars, and a transverse bulkhead is fitted between and secured to the facing webs of two -in a position 90 from that shown in these figures. Instead of the specific I-beam construction, the pillars may be of other sections prefabricated and/or assembled to provide a relatively strong unitary support for the bulkheads, the important feature of the pillar being the fiange thereof.

provision of imperforate opposed flat surfaces to which the ends of the bulkheads can be fitted and welded to form a liquid-tight joint. Hence, the pillar beam preferably is one which is formed, as by a rolling process or by fabrication, in one unitary piece of relatively great strength and having a main web portion and flanges extending laterally therefrom either in opposite directions at both ends of the web portion, or in opposite directions at one end of the web and only in one direction at the other end thereof, wherefore such a beam can be called either an I beam or an H beam. In the following description as well as in the claims, therefore, the term I beam is to be considered as indicative of any of such forms, and the term pillar is to be considered as indicative of any structural member of relatively great strength and of the order of an I beam. Vertical framing members are indicated at 8 in the way of the transverses 5, and vertical stiifeners are indicated at 9 placed intermediate the ends of a transverse bulkhead.

i The construction shown in Fig. 2 is similar to that illustrated in Fig. 1, but a pillar such as l0 (similar to the pillar 1) is substituted 'for the vertical stiffener 9 shown in Fig. 1. In this substitution, the pillar l0 divides the central the transverse bulkhead instead of dividing it as was the case in the construction of Fig. 2.

In like manner the constructions shown in Figs. 4 and 5 are similar except that pillars indicated at l3 and I3 in Fig. 5 are substituted for the vertical stiffener 9 shown in Fig. 4, said pillars being placed on one or both sides of the transverse bulkhead intermediate the ends thereof. Alternatively a pillar Ill may be employed in the manner illustrated in Fig. 2 to divide a transverse bulkhead into two aligned portions. The positions of all pillars or vertical stiffeners are made in accordance with the desired strength of the vessel and hence may or may not be in the relative positions shown in Figs. 1 to 5.

An important feature of this invention is the connection between a transverse bulkhead and the ships plating (side, deck and bottom). In other words the transverse bulkhead is stopped short of the plating, and fitted to an interposed relatively strong stiffening member which may be similar to the pillars heretofore mentioned, and therefore in Figs. 1 to 5 there has been shown a pillar I4 having one of its flanges secured to the ship plating, and having the end of a transverse bulkhead secured to the other This pillar l4 for convenience has beenillustrated as of I-beam construction but, like the pillars heretofore mentioned, it may be of other sections, prefabricated and/or assembled to provide a rigid and relatively strong unitary support for the bulkhead in the way of the ships side, deck and bottom.

Referring to Fig. 6, the longitudinal bulkhead indicated in section at 2 and the transverse bulkhead indicated at 3 are each shown as comprising a corrugated sheet or wall composed of a plurality of sections not illustrated but readily understood, the sections being provided for ease and economy in manufacturing, the sections suitably assembled preferably by welding to make up the whole of the bulkhead, such sections being of a length to extend from one pillar to another. The corrugations are disposed horizontally and may be of various transverse cross-section or contours, though in the drawings an angular formation is shown since this shape admirably lends itself to shipbuilding practices, the angles being obtuse wherefore ready drainage of liquid cargo is made possible.

' The corrugations of the bulkheads'preferably are not uniform from top to bottom thereof but progressively vary in width or depth from least (adjacent the deck) to greatest (adjacent the ships bottom) as clearly illustrated, and the spacings of the corrugations from center to center in the direction from the deck to the bottom may be made equal or not as desired and found necessary. Hence, the deepest corrugations being adjacent the bottom of the vessel, there is added strength in the bulkhead where the greatest pressure of a liquid cargo is to be found. The corrugations are continuous throughout the main body portion of the bulkhead but said corrugations stop adjacent the deck and bottom of the vessel, there being provided a planar vertical sheet portion l1 adjacent the deck and a similar sheet portion l8 adjacent the ship's bottom, the portions l1 and I8 lying substantially in the same plane, which plane substantially bisects the corrugations of the main body portion of the bulkhead. It, however, may be found from a practical and simplified point of view to make the corrugations of a uniform depth; this however would handicap the dead weight of the vessel by an added tonnage of steel of a tanker up to possibly 40 tons.

The longitudinal and transverse bulkheads can be prefabricated so that they may be dropped into place and securedv to the pillars and to the ships deck and bottom. This prefabrication is such that the vertical edges or sides of the bulkheads will abut the respective surfaces of the pillars and be'suitably secured to such surfaces as by a continuous weld, resulting in a liquid tight joint. The corrugations at the bottom of a longitudinal bulkhead will have a width or depth nearly but not equal to the width of the flange of the pillar such as I to which it is welded to provide space for the welding, and the width or depth of the corrugations at the bottom of a transverse bulkhead will be a little less than the dimension of the web of such pillar, leaving just enough space within which to accomplish the welding of the transverse bulkhead to said web. The longitudinal bulkheads are welded to the deck and to the ships bottom, but the transverse bulkheads have their upper and lower edges welded respectively to deck and bottom strengthening members l5 and I6 respectively (see Fig. 6) which strengthening members may be formed similarly to the pillars 14 disposed vertically along the ships side. In other words, there may be in effect a substantial continuity of the pillar beam construction all around the ship in the plane of a transverse bulkhead, as indicated in this figure of drawing, or the vertical pillar may be separate from the deck and bottom pillar beam construction with suitable connections ,to render the bulkhead compartments liquid tight.

The construction shown in Fig. 8 is very similar to that shown in Fig. 6 except that the corrugations of the midship transverse bulkhead l9 are shown as extending vertically with one or more horizontally disposed stiifeners 20 welded. to this bulkhead section as clearly shown in this The longitudinal bulkhead and the wing trans-.

verse bulkhead, as well-as the pillar beam construction, are substantially the same as shown in Fig. 6.

The pillar beams are preferably continuous with respect to the longitudinal framing members such as 25;(see Figs. 6 to 9 and 12 to 14) in that the framing members stop short of said pillar beams, see particularly Fig. 'I.' That is to say, two aligned longitudinals 28 and 25' are secured to the ship's plating but their ends terminate.

short of the web of a pillar beam ll to provide a space such as 26 for drainage or other purposes. However, the continuity of strength of the longitudinals is carried through the pillar beam by virtue of a splice plate'2'l closely fltting a slot provided therefor in the web of the pillar beam. This splice plate may be formed as desired. but preferably is triangular in shape, having its long edge abuttingly welded to the inner flanged edges of the aligned longitudinals 25 and 25', and welded to the pillar beam completely around the slot or opening therein for said plate,- and having its apex welded to the flange of said beam, all as will be clear from Fig. '7. The construction shown in 4 Fig. 9 is quite similar except that the bottom pillar beam I6 is illustrated, with the corrugations of the transverse bulkhead 3 shown in a position at 90 to their position sho'wn in Fig. 7.

In Figs. 6 and 8 there has been illustrated a vertical stiifener for the transverse 'bulkheadin the region of the center of the ship, and comprising a vertical plate '28 extending from a side of said bulkhead and edge-welded thereto, one

edge of said plate being suitably cut. to fit the horizontal corrugations of the bulkhead. The opposite edge of said plate is reinforced by a flange 29, face plate or other structural member, and the entire plate is braced by spaced brackets such as 30 and 3| with respect to the bulkhead. This construction is indicated generally in Fig. 1 by the numeral 9. One or more of such stiffening plates may be provided depending upon the span of the bulkhead and general dimensions of the ship, the plate 28 extending continuous or not from the deck to the ship's bottom. I

In Fig. 11 there is shown in detail a corrugated bulkhead such as 3 fltted at spaced intervals with vertical battens such as 35 and 36 on opposite sides of the bulkhead and secured thereto as by the bolts 31, with'cleading or boarding 38 secured crosswise the battens, and insulating material indicated at 39 packed within the bulkhead wall as clearly indicated. The bottom of the insulated wall is closed as by flooring planks l0 bolted or.

75 materislandtherebykeepsmhmeterialinrelatively fixed position to a much better degree than is possible'in the usual insulated walls with no cross-supports, which latter and usual construction results in a settling of the insulating material, leaving an appreciable unfilled air space at the top of the wall which will transmit heat and/or cold. In other words, by this present construction, the insulated wall is divided, by the oblique portions such as 45 and 46 of the cormgated bulkhead 3, into cells indicated by the numerals l1 and 48 which may readily be packed or completely fllled with the insulating material and which cells are of such relatively small vertical dimension that the weight of the insulating material in each cell is insuflicient to cause any appreciable settling.

In Fig. 14 there is shown a foreshortened vertical section adjacent the ship's side wherein the transverse bulkhead 3 is shown extending from the deck pillar beam I! to the bottom pillar beam l6 and having its vertical corrugated edge abutting against and welded to the flange of the vertical pillar M. The aligned longitudinal framing members 25 and'25' are attached as by welding to the ship's plating with their ends terminating short of the pillar I web but. interconnected through the web for continuity of strength by a splice plate 21.

As hereinbefore stated the pillar beam may be V an I or any other structural section, and in Fig. 12 is illustrated one of the other types of section that may be employed and comprising a T 50 which may be 9. rolled section or which may be formed from an I beam by cutting off one flange. This T beam has its web welded ,to the ships plating and otherwise is associated with the transverse bulkhead and longitudinal framing members in a manner similar to that hereinbefore described. Instead of a T beam or an I beam, the pillar construction may be prefabricated of welded plates, or angles or channels suitably secured to each other and of dimensions to form the requisite pillar strength.

In Fig. 13 a pillar beam of I construction has been illustrated with its flange 5| disposed in the plane of the ship's platingand edge-welded to said plating as indicated at 52. This construction therefore will be seen to differ from that hereinbefore illustrated and described and comprising superposed attachment of the flange of the I beam upon the surface of the ship's plating.

Thus it will be seen that, by this invention, there is provided a relatively strong bulkhead construction particularly transversely of a vessel, comprising a plurality of beams, each of the ortier of an I beam, disposed in the regions of and secured to the deck, bottom and side plating, or in other words so disposed as to provide a boundary for the transverse bulkhead, each beam prefabricated to comprise a unitary and complete structure and of such character that standard elements may be used to manufacture the same. Further, eachbeam'has relatively great strength as compared to heretofore known plates reinforced with angle bars or the like, or ascompared to angle bars alone, and by employing corrugated bulkhead wall sections additional strength is given to the bulkhead. Therefore, in the securegenerally the I beam inherently provides the needed strength in the ships' structure as a whole, and the corrugations give added strength to the bulkhead wall, and specifically the corrugations constitute the sole strengthening means at the edge securement of the bulkhead to the beam, thereby eliminating the necessity of rein.-

forcing angles, brackets, and/or plates. Finally,

by this invention there is accomplished a considerable saving in weight over the heavily reinforced bulkheads heretofore known, a reduction in labor and material costs since the structure can be more quickly fabricated with a lesser number of parts, and a decidedly stronger construction since, by welding, the entire bulkhead structure is practically made one-piece.

It is obvious that those skilled in the art may vary the details of construction and arrangements of parts without departing from the spirit of this invention and therefore it is desired not to be limited to the exact foregoing disclosure exdept as may be demanded by the claims.

What is claimed is:

1. Ship tank structure comprising ship's plating and bulkheads, said bulkheads disposed transversely and longitudinally of the ship and intersecting each other substantially at right angles, said bulkheads including and secured to beams, each beam of the order of an I beam and having flat imperforate surfaces, some of said beams disposed within the bulkhead intersections, the other of said beams disposed within the planes of the transverse bulkheads and secured to the deck, side and bottom plating, at least one of said bulkheads having corrugations extending to opposite edges thereof, the end edges of each bulkhead abuttingly secured in liquid-tight relation directly to the surfaces of said beams, the securement of the corrugated bulkhead to said beam being free of angles and pieces filling the corrugations; the corrugations constituting the sole strengthening means at the securement of the corrugated bulkhead to said beam.

2. Ship construction comprising deck, bottom and side plating, longitudinal and transverse cor- .rugated walls disposed in intersecting planes with the corrugations extending to the opposite edges of such walls, and a plurality of beams each of the order of an I beam having fiat surfaces and to which said walls are secured, all of said beams disposed within the planes of the transverse walls, some of said beams disposed within the wall intersections and extending between and having their ends secured to the deck and bottom plating, certain other of said beams disposed in spaced relation to a wall intersection and also extending between and having their ends secured to the deck and bottom plating, the remainder of said beams lengthwise secured to the deck, bottom and side plating, the contiguous edges only of said walls contacting and abutting ly secured to such beam surfaces, the corrugations constituting the sole strengthening means at the securement' of a wall to a beam.

3. Ship construction comprising deck, bottom and side plating, longitudinal and transverse walls disposed in intersecting planes, and a plurality of beams supporting said walls, each transverse wall bounded by such beams, all of said beams having flat surfaces, some of said beams disposed within the wall intersections and extending between and having their ends secured to the deck and bottom plating, the other of said beams lengthwise secured to the deck, bottom and side plating, the contiguous edges only of said walls contacting and abuttingly secured to such beam surfaces, and longitudinal framing members secured to said plating, said members disposed on opposite sides of the transverse wall and aligned with each other, the ends of each two aligned members interconnected by a plate passing continuous through and secured to the beams bounding the transverse wall.

4. In a floating vessel, bulkhead construction comprising a transverse wall having corrugations extending to opposite edges thereof, and a plurality of beams bounding said wall, each beam of the order of an I beam, each edge only of such wall contacting and abuttingly secured to a surface of a beam, such beam surface closing the corrugated edge of the wall.

5, In a floating vessel provided with inner and outer plating, bulkhead construction comprising a wall extending transversely ofthe vessel and having corrugations extending to opposite edges thereof, and a plurality of beams bounding said wall, each beam of the order of an I beam, at least one of said beams having opposite surfaces disposed in the planes of the inner and outer plating of the vessel, each edge only of such wall contacting and abuttingly secured to a surface of a beam and to the surface of the inner plating, such surface closing the corrugated edge of the wall secured thereto.

6. In a floating vessel provided with side plating the combination of a bulkhead disposed transversely of the vessel and having horizontal corrugations extending to the outer edge thereof, the corrugated-edge of said bulkhead terminating short of such plating; and a beam of the order of an I beam carried by such plating and filling the space between the plating and the corrugated edge of said bulkhead, the corrugated bulkhead edge contacting and abuttingly secured to a surface of said beam free of angle members and similar strengthening means, such beam surface completely closing the corrugations of such corrugated edge.

7. In a floating vessel provided with side plating the combination of a bulkhead disposed transversely of the vessel, the edge of said bulkhead terminating short of such plating; a'beam 5 abuttingly secured to such outer surface of said beam free of angle members and similar strengthening means; and aligned longitudinal framing members carried by said plating and terminating short of said beam, the ends of two aligned members interconnected by a plate out of contact with said bulkhead and passing continuous through a portion of said beam, such plate secured to the inner edge portions of said members and to the irmer surface of said beam and filling the space between said members and said flange.

8. In a floating vessel the combination of deck, bottom and side plating; a pluralityof beams attached to said plating and disposed in a transverse plane of the vessel, each beam having two closure for'the corrugations at the corrugated edge of the section; and a longitudinal bulkhead disposed in a plane intersecting the plane of the transverse bulkhead, the vertical edge only of the longitudinal bulkhead contacting and abuttingly secured to one of the other surfaces of one of said beams.

9. In a floating vessel the combination of deck, bottom and side plating; a plurality of I beams attached to said plating and disposed in a transverse plane of the vessel; and a transverse bulkhead having corrugations extending to edges thereof, the outermost edges of said bulkhead secured to surfaces of said beams free of angle members and pieces filling the corrugations, the corrugations constituting the sole strengthening means at the securement of the bulkhead to a beam.

10. In a floating vessel including side plating, bulkhead construction comprising horizontally corrugated walls extending longitudinally and transversely of the vessel, a plurality of I beams, some of said beams disposed in the plane of the side plating, the other of said beams disposed in the intersection of the planes of the longitudinal walls with the transverse walls, the vertical edges of all of said walls terminating in said beams, vertical battens secured to said walls on opposite sides thereof, cleading secured to said battens and extending between said beams, and insulating material filling the corrugations of said walls and confined by said cleading and said beams.

11. In a floating vessel provided with deck, side and bottom plating the combination of a corrugated longitudinal bulkhead disposed in one plane and secured to the deck and bottom plating; a transverse bulkhead disposed in another and intersecting plane and comprising one seca transverse wall having tion having horizontal corrugations and another section having vertical corrugations, said sections separated by the plane of the longitudinal bulkhead; and a plurality of beams each of the order of an I beam, a beam disposed at each edge of a transverse bulkhead section'and secured to said plating, all of said beams having a surface abuttlngly receiving an'edge of the sections, one

of said beams disposed in the intersection of the bulkhead planes and additionally receiving on a surface thereof a vertical edge of the longitudinal bulkhead, all of said beams providing a closure for the corrugations of the bulkheads.

12. In a ship structure, a longitudinal bulkhead, a transverse bulkhead, and a plurality of I beams, an I beam disposed at each substantially vertical end of each bulkhead, and-substantially horizontal I beams disposed at the top and bottom edges of each transverse bulkhead, at least one bulkhead having continuous corrugations, the vertical edges of all of said bulkheads secured in abutting relation to surfaces of beams, and the horizontal edges of the transverse bulkheads secured in abutting relation to surfaces of the horizontal beams.

13. In ship structure, a bulkhead comprising corrugations extendin to opposite edges thereof, and a plurality of beams bounding said wall, the beams bounding the corrugated edges of said wall having flat imperforate ,surfaces, such corrugated edges contacting and abuttingly secured to said surfaces and having the corrugations thereof completely closed by such surfaces, the corrugations constituting the sole strengthening means at the securement of such corrugated edges to the beams.

com; WILLIAM STEWART.

the vertical 

